Democrat fights ruling that tossed votes in race against Amedore

By Jimmy Vielkind

Updated 9:35 pm, Wednesday, December 26, 2012

ALBANY — A series of "hypertechnical mistakes" by voters led to the invalidation of hundreds of ballots in a tight state Senate race, the Democratic candidate contends in court papers filed Wednesday.

Cecilia Tkaczyk, a Duanesburg school board member, is appealing a Montgomery County judge's decision to invalidate 333 absentee and affidavit ballots in her race against Republican Assemblyman George Amedore. He was certified as a winner last week by Acting Supreme Court Justice Guy Tomlinson, who after supervising the ballot count found that Amedore had finished 37 votes ahead.

Tkaczyk's appeal says Tomlinson ruled improperly in the cases of several large piles of contested votes, including 54 ballots of Ulster County election inspectors thrown out because the workers had used special ballots handed out before the prescribed two-week period, and 216 affidavit ballots deemed incomplete because voters who had moved did not list their prior address.

"Not one scintilla of evidence was proffered by the objector ... of any fraud. Rather, the disenfranchisement of hundreds of voters was based upon inconsequential deviations from the letter of the law," Tkaczyk's lawyers wrote in the filing.

In Ulster County, "the commissioners were simply ensuring that the inspectors, who perform a vital public service, themselves did not lose the most fundamental of our rights as citizens due to performing that public service."

Amedore's campaign plans to file a formal reply to Tkaczyk's appeal by Friday; the case is scheduled to be argued in Albany on Jan. 7 — two days before the state Senate is scheduled to formally convene.

Amedore's spokesman Kris Thompson issued a brief statement replying to the Democratic filing: "Our opponent has publicly acknowledged and admitted to voting errors in this race. Trial Judge Guy Tomlinson upheld legal objections to those very errors. We respect the court's position, and we await our opportunity to be heard in response to our opponents' appeal."

The outcome of the race could affect which party controls the chamber. Amedore would be the 32nd person to join the Republican conference, which currently includes 30 Republicans and Sen. Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn man elected on the Democratic Party line who immediately pledged fealty to the GOP.

As such, a win by Amedore would provide an outright majority to the GOP. At the end of the 2011 session in June — the last time either legislative chamber convened in Albany — Republicans controlled the Senate by a 33-29 margin.

Following election losses, Senate GOP leaders announced in early December that they would ally with the five-member Independent Democratic Conference to keep control over the distribution of staff and funding resources to the chamber's members — traditionally, allocations for majority members are higher — as well as which bills are voted upon.

Under that arrangement, IDC Sen. Jeff Klein and Republican Leader Dean Skelos would serve as co-leaders, and rotate the constitutional title of "temporary president" every two weeks.

The agreement has yet to be codified, however. A win by Amedore would certainly strengthen the Republicans' hand as they negotiate the details of sharing power. Conversely, a win by Tkaczyk raises the possibility that the IDC might walk away from Republicans and work out a deal with Democrats.